1. Field
The invention is in the field of agricultural sprinkler, irrigation systems of the type in which a mover unit, equipped with power drive, is located intermediate the length of a sprinkler-carrying pipeline made up of coupled, wheel-mounted sections that are rotated in unison by the power drive during movement of the system from place to place in an area to be irrigated.
2. State of the Art
Agricultural sprinkler systems of the type concerned are normally controlled at the power drive located centrally of a pipeline that often extends across several acres of cropland. This requires the user to periodically walk a considerable distance to start up the engine and move the rig to a new location for the progressive sprinkling of an area being irrigated by the system. It has been recognized heretofore that provision for power drive control from an end of the pipeline would be highly advantageous, and some attempts have been made to provide for such control electrically. But electrical control has significant drawbacks and is not applicable to various widely used systems.
For example, in a known system, electrical conducting wires are mounted along a pipeline from an end thereof to operate a mover unit including a power drive which rotates the pipeline. In such system, the conducting wires rotate with the irrigation line, while the mover unit, of course, does not. In order to transmit electrical power from such rotating conducting wires to appropriate electrical means mounted on the mover unit, a slip ring construction is utilized. However, such a slip ring structure has been found to be troublesome operationally due to corrosion and short circuiting that results from sprinkling of water from the irrigation line into the area of such slip ring structure.
It will therefore be understood that it is highly desirable to provide a system which overcomes the above-cited problems, meanwhile being simple in design and convenient for use.